Ten Things I Hate About Me
by Niami94
Summary: Because I suck. CloTi, 2nd generation story arc.


Ten Things I Hate About Myself

* * *

As weird as it may sound now, I never considered myself any different than anyone else. Sure, I learned how to fire a gun when I was nine, but I was always told it was self-defense. I'd tell you how mad my dad got at Vincent, but that's a story for another time.

I was a freshman when I found out. My world geo teacher had just finished talking about this old civilization and blah, blah, blah when she stopped halfway through the lesson. That was kinda strange for her, considering how much she loved the sound of her own voice.

"Ms. _Strife_," she would forever emphasize my name, "would you please come to my desk? I have a note that needs to go home with you."

Immediately, the whole class went quiet. If Clara Strife could get in trouble from talking in class, no one else was safe. I mean, I wasn't even aware I was talking that loud.

As soon as I recovered from the shock of being called, I put on one of my mom's million dollar smiles and tried to calm down my nerves as I walked to Mrs. Sinclair' desk at the front of the room. The quick clatter of her nails hitting the keyboard didn't do much to calm me down, but I faked it. What did I have to be scared of? I could forge mom's signature.

When I reached her desk, the loud _woosh_ of the printer was heard. Mrs. Sinclair' hand shot out, grabbed the piece of paper, and quickly said, "Back to your seat."

I was just plain elated that she wasn't going to make a spectacle of me in front of everyone, so I happily obeyed. Once I reached my seat, I could hear Ilyanna whisper, "Tough break."

"It's no big deal. My parents won't have to know about this." I picked up the paper and waved it a bit to make my point.

"Clara, it's asking for your dad's signature, too."

"Not even..." But there it was. That ugly black line requesting the signature of all legal guardians. Drat.

"Tough break, but it's no biggie, right?" Freaking Jennie, ever optimistic.

"What does the note even say?"

Ever the calm one (_ha!_), I began to read the letter out loud to them.

"_Dear Mr. And Mrs. Strife,_

_Your daughter's World Geography class has just finished reviewing the Rise of the __Shinra Manufacturing Works. I've steered clear of the actual events of the Jenova War, but the class cannot continue forward unless I go through that time period. The WRO's Board of Education insists I receive your permission to mention your involvement in it. Please have Clara return this as soon as possible._

_Mrs. H. J. Sinclair"_

And underneath it were those two ugly lines. Geez, louise. This sucks.

"Wait," Jennie eyebrows furrowed as she thought out loud, "what does she mean by 'your involvement?' I thought your parents worked together at Seventh Heaven until your dad started up that delivery service."

"Uh..." I didn't know what to say to them. I began to think back on all the stories I'd been told of my parents by everyone,. Sure, they never made sense, and even contradicted sometimes, but I never asked. Trust me, I'd rather not know all about the skeletons my parents hide in their closets. But what to tell Ilyanna and Jennie?

"My parents...," I started. "Uh... I really don't know."

And with that, the subject was dropped and Jennie started up with more chatter as we mindlessly picked up our work.

"Ok, then. I guess. Hey, Clara, did you figure out how to do the routine they taught us yesterday?"

"Heck yeah!" I may have said too loudly, but cheerleading always gets me a little excited . "You know that little tuck and roll thingamabob we do? Well, after that, we're supposed to pop out and immediately jump out into a star."

"Wait, but I thought it went five, six, and-seven, and-eight."

"Well, Darcy doesn't know how to count beats."

"Clara! That's so mean."

"Ugh, shut up, Jennie."

"Serio-"

"Would you two just quiet down," Ilyanna interceded. "I'm trying to find out what the last president of Shinra's name was. It's not in the text; wanna help?"

"Uh, duh... Rufus Shinra. He's gonna turn 48 this coming December."

What was such a dumb factoid to me must've been something ground-breaking or something. Suddenly, my two best friends quieted down (miracle!) and skimmed every page of the chapter to find Rufus Shinra's information.

"Clara, it's not in here."

"Ily's right, Clare. It doesn't even mention his birthday!"

"Guys, trust me, it's in there."

Another extensive search later proved unfruitful. It began to seem a bit weird, especially to me. Luckily, the bell rang and that was the end of that. No time to focus on a stupid thing like me being smarter than Ilyanna for once. Time for cheer.

* * *

Vincent and I were hit with the sound of customer chatter before we walked in through the bar's back door and knew he'd have to stay while. He always stuck around a bit until my mom could get two second of peace to register I was home. This could take from a couple minutes to until very late at night. From the sheer amount of voices that could be heard from the other sound of the thin wall, it was gonna be a long night.

Vince seated himself on one side of the little table we had back there while I tried to find an after school snack for me. Behind the carrots in the refrigerator (_ick_), I found two apples.

"Hey, Vince. Want an apple?"

His slight head shake told me no.

While I washed the apple, I could see Vincent staring at my bag. From my point of view, I could see nothing wrong with it. As I got closer to the table, however, I saw the problem. The words '_Dear Mr. And Mrs. Strife, Your daughter's-' _could be read off a paper sticking out of it. Geez...

I tried to not make a spectacle of myself as I shoved the paper deeper into the contents of the bag, but Vincent saw right through me.

"Clara."

His voice rung through the stillness in the room even when the noise of the front room tried to shake at it. He needed to teach me how to do that in the future.

"Uh... Yeah, Vince?" Crap, voice cracked.

"You haven't been getting into any trouble at school, have you?"

"Not really."

"So why is your teacher sending notes home from school?"

I quickly bit into the apple to save me from having to give an immediate answer. He could see what I was doing, but, I mean, come on. I _was _taught to chew with my mouth closed.

"Clara." Stern. Drat.

"Vince, what do you want me to say? Oh, this teacher's being all paranoid about teaching this subject so she's asking my parents to give her permission."

Vincent's eyebrow did this weird twitch thing they always do when they want to come together, but he controls it.

"Could I see the paper?"

"Fine." I mean, I had nothing to hide, right? It's just one stupid piece of paper. I hadn't even done anything wrong.

Once Vincent read the contents of the letter, he became still. I couldn't shake it off him. Every question I asked was answered with a shake of the head or a "hmm" or nothing at all if the question required him to explain. I'd never seen him like this before. He was a mixture of a determined child and a stubborn geezer. It was a bit amusing until he realized I was playing with him and just became unresponsive.

Typical Vincent.

* * *

A/N: Should not be doing this, I know. But this plot bunny has been cultivating once I all but devoured my first CloTi drabbles collection. (really like those :D) It's got a kinda medium length plot at this point. I have the beginning, middle and end. It's just what connects those three things that might be a tad boring. I don't really know Rufus' birthday, so made something up. Now, to help those of you visualize the new characters:

Clara: looks exactly like Tifa, except for blue eyes and hair isn't quite as manageable; freshman cheerleader. (April 12th 2015, 14)

Ilyanna: light brown hair, hazel eyes, medium height; drama freshman. (15)

Jennie: redhead, brown eyes, pale; freshman cheerleader. (15)

Clara's older brother: (needs a name D:) tall, bit lanky, longish flat dark brown hair, brown red eyes; senior athlete. (March 19th 2012, 17)


End file.
